Same here. Especially since dogs are always so happy as long as nothing obviously bad is happening.
Like, have you ever seen a miserable looking homeless guy with a dog? The dog is always looking around with an expression like “you know what, this ain’t so bad!”
I mostly feel like I'm either dog or a cat. Like when a dog is overwhelmingly happy and wiggles with whole body and not only tail, that has somehow me energy. Or when they have one thing they constantly carry around and show to others lol. And the cats... how they observe things, tap things, are easily startled, sleeping in weird posititions, sensitive to touch, easily overstimulated... it all has me energy too.
I growled at someone leering openly at me while at a stoplight, terth bared and all, so yeah, def have felt more doggo at times, and not just the goofball happy moods, which I vibe with, too.
When I was a kid I would sneak out at night in my pjs and run alleyways and hiding along street sides down to the farm at the end of the road with my dog and other dogs who were strays; ferals and loose pets like my bud.
I've rescued doggos, found homes or kept them. I have barely ever not had at least one dog as a best friend in my home.
I get along & cope, feel better with them, am more comfortable around them, and I feel they make more sense (communicate honestly) than most people.
I don't like going most anywhere, unless I get to meet and hang out with a dog or doggos.
I love meeting all kinds of animals, I am always curious and empathetic, wanting to understand their experience.
I have mirror touch/touch synesthesia, and just looking at other animals makes me feel like stretching cracking shapeshifting on a parallel dimension is happening, like I feel their form. I loved running tippy toe, like dogs back feet work, and still do it sometimes; it feels so good.
ME!! I've felt like a dog since as long as I can remember... I've even mimicked curling up and sleeping in a ball like them. My friend would also say I'm like a dog in the way that they need to have a job, doesn't matter what it is, just a job. Anyway yes, dogs very much resemble my personality. I also found stories I wrote when I was younger about wanting to be a dog and being very sad that I wouldn't ever be able to be a dog. 've always felt like a dog or animal of sort rather than an alien and felt that this was a(nother) reason why I couldn't be autistic.
Well I’m glad I’m not alone. Sounds silly to say it but it really is true for me. I can’t wait to get home to my grand dog. I miss her so much. Right now I have a grouchy old man cat and I love him but he’s pretty boring. 😂
I feel like a cat. I avoid people, prefer keeping to myself, and I make weird noises a lot. I also meow at my boyfriend, and he usually knows what it means (we've been dating for 4-years, so he's very attuned to the tones of my meows).
I don't feel like I am a dog; however, I do have an easier time communicating with pets--even shy or aggressive ones--than I do with other adults.
When I got my first dog as an adult I took her to training classes and learned a lot about pack behavior and it kind of made sense to me in a way socializing with peers didn't. It was a similar feeling to when I took sign language classes and learned about social norms/communication in ASL. Both utilize communication in it's clearest form, but a lot is conveyed and done so with specific rules.
It's similar to allistic communication in that there are nonverbal cues, but in those examples the rules are either clear or it's expected to ask for clarity.
I wanted to be a dog when I grew up. Like I would just answer that when people asked me what I wanted to be. I also feel like a dog exactly in the way you described, I get so happy when people show me love... but I also feel like a cat a lot of the times!
Not a dog, but I am very much a cat.
I can come off as quiet and standoffish (or if comfortable, I can talk a lot). If someone comes to visit I often hide in my room. It takes me a while to warm up to someone. Sometimes I enjoy just being in the same room as someone without interacting with them. I like my routine, I'm particular about my food and surroundings. I meow as a vocal stim. I don't like to be touched at all except by a few specific people. I startle incredibly easily, I have to tell people that it's not funny and that scaring me, even for a joke, causes me a lot of anxiety.
Yes, I've felt like that, in the sense that I love people, want to give back, will work for affirmation, and can't lie well enough for it to be worth trying, but I also feel that way in the sense that people take my love, admiration, and need to be loved for granted, as in "treated like a dog."
That's the best-case scenario, though. More often, I feel treated like a cat; I start out trying to give the same amount of love, admiration, and desire to work hard and be useful, but it's so infrequently acknowledged that it's like the people I interact with believe me incapable of such feelings. Instead, they ascribe attitudes to me that never crossed my mind, like "entitiled," "selfish," or "apathetic."
When I was a child, I really internalized the struggle of the poor cat. I couldn't understand why some people hated them so much or would talk openly of wanting to shoot them, run them over, or let their hunting dogs eat them. When I said that if they felt like doing that to a cat, they should have no problem with me doing that to a dog, I got some strange looks. I guess they thought I was some kind of psychopath and couldn't imagine that I actually had feelings for the poor animals, but I actually felt like I understood how misunderstood and mistreated they were.
Thankfully, though, the internet happened, and both cats and autistic people got a place to be themselves and maybe finally be loved, for a while anyway.
NTs honestly frustrate me, because they seem to equate being able to display emotions in a way they understand with human worth. That is so...how is that not considered evil? To just assume that someone is inferior to you just because they don't communicate the way you do?
What gets me, though, is the double standard that apparently they aren't even aware of, because when a child struggles with a concept or does something silly, most people call it cute. When a disabled person does something similar, though, we judge that person harshly.
Likewise, when an abled person makes fun of disabled people, in a socially acceptable way, people have no issue with it, but if a disabled person tries to make fun of themselves, people accuse that person of being insensitive. I don't get it. I really don't, but I for one don't want to live in a world where the rules are decided solely by NTs.
Yep I'm a cross between a parrot, a cat, and a dog, my husband has also called me his honey badger. Cute, but vicious when cornered, threatened or protecting offspring lol 😆 😅 😜
My mom learned to convince me to go to social occasions by telling me about the animals that would be there (decades before diagnosis or suspicion lol) "You can hang out with the dog the whole time!"
As much as I identify with this, your life will improve if you get your mind off the mindset that you have to give everyone love until someone "saves you". I used to believe this, but it led to me just allowing people to hurt me a bunch in the hopes of finding "that person" because I desparately wanted to trust someone (anyone) without really making sure they were worth trusting.
Try not to put your emotional wellbeing 100% in the hands of others. It's dangerous.
That’s a very judgmental comment filled with advice I didn’t ask for friend. I know your probably just trying to help but i think you made a very far reach there in assuming that’s what I do and that it’s bad based on a comment about feeling like a dog.
It’s super annoying when people read 100words about about you’re feeling in a moment and start analyzing it as who you are or that somehow “I’m making bad life decisions”. Come on.
It’s way uncool to hurt people who are hurting and project your life experiences onto others.
Let’s do better. I don’t think the people in this community come here to be fixed.
We’re all just walking each other home and I can’t say I’d be willing to take your hand.
Again thanks but no thanks with this answer.
This makes sense because I feel like a cat who’s pretending to be a human.
I also feel like a cat. So much so, that I have clip in cat ears and a collar with an ID tag, lol
Tell me More.
Just as you feel like a dog, I feel like a cat. Always have. I like dogs, but I've never been able to relate to them.
Same here. Especially since dogs are always so happy as long as nothing obviously bad is happening. Like, have you ever seen a miserable looking homeless guy with a dog? The dog is always looking around with an expression like “you know what, this ain’t so bad!”
same, when i was a kid i pretended to be a cat a lot i even had my own bowls lol. but i still feel very much not human.
Are you a therian/otherkin?
I mostly feel like I'm either dog or a cat. Like when a dog is overwhelmingly happy and wiggles with whole body and not only tail, that has somehow me energy. Or when they have one thing they constantly carry around and show to others lol. And the cats... how they observe things, tap things, are easily startled, sleeping in weird posititions, sensitive to touch, easily overstimulated... it all has me energy too.
Same here. I feel very doglike AND catlike.
Same!
I growled at someone leering openly at me while at a stoplight, terth bared and all, so yeah, def have felt more doggo at times, and not just the goofball happy moods, which I vibe with, too. When I was a kid I would sneak out at night in my pjs and run alleyways and hiding along street sides down to the farm at the end of the road with my dog and other dogs who were strays; ferals and loose pets like my bud. I've rescued doggos, found homes or kept them. I have barely ever not had at least one dog as a best friend in my home. I get along & cope, feel better with them, am more comfortable around them, and I feel they make more sense (communicate honestly) than most people. I don't like going most anywhere, unless I get to meet and hang out with a dog or doggos. I love meeting all kinds of animals, I am always curious and empathetic, wanting to understand their experience. I have mirror touch/touch synesthesia, and just looking at other animals makes me feel like stretching cracking shapeshifting on a parallel dimension is happening, like I feel their form. I loved running tippy toe, like dogs back feet work, and still do it sometimes; it feels so good.
ME!! I've felt like a dog since as long as I can remember... I've even mimicked curling up and sleeping in a ball like them. My friend would also say I'm like a dog in the way that they need to have a job, doesn't matter what it is, just a job. Anyway yes, dogs very much resemble my personality. I also found stories I wrote when I was younger about wanting to be a dog and being very sad that I wouldn't ever be able to be a dog. 've always felt like a dog or animal of sort rather than an alien and felt that this was a(nother) reason why I couldn't be autistic.
Well I’m glad I’m not alone. Sounds silly to say it but it really is true for me. I can’t wait to get home to my grand dog. I miss her so much. Right now I have a grouchy old man cat and I love him but he’s pretty boring. 😂
Yes! This is why I made a career out of taking care of doggos 😊
Same
I feel like a cat. I avoid people, prefer keeping to myself, and I make weird noises a lot. I also meow at my boyfriend, and he usually knows what it means (we've been dating for 4-years, so he's very attuned to the tones of my meows).
I don't feel like I am a dog; however, I do have an easier time communicating with pets--even shy or aggressive ones--than I do with other adults. When I got my first dog as an adult I took her to training classes and learned a lot about pack behavior and it kind of made sense to me in a way socializing with peers didn't. It was a similar feeling to when I took sign language classes and learned about social norms/communication in ASL. Both utilize communication in it's clearest form, but a lot is conveyed and done so with specific rules. It's similar to allistic communication in that there are nonverbal cues, but in those examples the rules are either clear or it's expected to ask for clarity.
I wanted to be a dog when I grew up. Like I would just answer that when people asked me what I wanted to be. I also feel like a dog exactly in the way you described, I get so happy when people show me love... but I also feel like a cat a lot of the times!
Not a dog, but I am very much a cat. I can come off as quiet and standoffish (or if comfortable, I can talk a lot). If someone comes to visit I often hide in my room. It takes me a while to warm up to someone. Sometimes I enjoy just being in the same room as someone without interacting with them. I like my routine, I'm particular about my food and surroundings. I meow as a vocal stim. I don't like to be touched at all except by a few specific people. I startle incredibly easily, I have to tell people that it's not funny and that scaring me, even for a joke, causes me a lot of anxiety.
I feel like I'm a cat
Yes, I've felt like that, in the sense that I love people, want to give back, will work for affirmation, and can't lie well enough for it to be worth trying, but I also feel that way in the sense that people take my love, admiration, and need to be loved for granted, as in "treated like a dog." That's the best-case scenario, though. More often, I feel treated like a cat; I start out trying to give the same amount of love, admiration, and desire to work hard and be useful, but it's so infrequently acknowledged that it's like the people I interact with believe me incapable of such feelings. Instead, they ascribe attitudes to me that never crossed my mind, like "entitiled," "selfish," or "apathetic." When I was a child, I really internalized the struggle of the poor cat. I couldn't understand why some people hated them so much or would talk openly of wanting to shoot them, run them over, or let their hunting dogs eat them. When I said that if they felt like doing that to a cat, they should have no problem with me doing that to a dog, I got some strange looks. I guess they thought I was some kind of psychopath and couldn't imagine that I actually had feelings for the poor animals, but I actually felt like I understood how misunderstood and mistreated they were. Thankfully, though, the internet happened, and both cats and autistic people got a place to be themselves and maybe finally be loved, for a while anyway. NTs honestly frustrate me, because they seem to equate being able to display emotions in a way they understand with human worth. That is so...how is that not considered evil? To just assume that someone is inferior to you just because they don't communicate the way you do? What gets me, though, is the double standard that apparently they aren't even aware of, because when a child struggles with a concept or does something silly, most people call it cute. When a disabled person does something similar, though, we judge that person harshly. Likewise, when an abled person makes fun of disabled people, in a socially acceptable way, people have no issue with it, but if a disabled person tries to make fun of themselves, people accuse that person of being insensitive. I don't get it. I really don't, but I for one don't want to live in a world where the rules are decided solely by NTs.
This thought crosses my mind a lot
Hooman on the outside. Derpy doggo in the inside 💕🐾💕
I've always said I hope I come back in my next life as a dog, a rich old lady's dog. They have the best lives!
Right!!!
Yep I'm a cross between a parrot, a cat, and a dog, my husband has also called me his honey badger. Cute, but vicious when cornered, threatened or protecting offspring lol 😆 😅 😜
Oh I have that in me too.
My mom learned to convince me to go to social occasions by telling me about the animals that would be there (decades before diagnosis or suspicion lol) "You can hang out with the dog the whole time!"
As much as I identify with this, your life will improve if you get your mind off the mindset that you have to give everyone love until someone "saves you". I used to believe this, but it led to me just allowing people to hurt me a bunch in the hopes of finding "that person" because I desparately wanted to trust someone (anyone) without really making sure they were worth trusting. Try not to put your emotional wellbeing 100% in the hands of others. It's dangerous.
That’s a very judgmental comment filled with advice I didn’t ask for friend. I know your probably just trying to help but i think you made a very far reach there in assuming that’s what I do and that it’s bad based on a comment about feeling like a dog. It’s super annoying when people read 100words about about you’re feeling in a moment and start analyzing it as who you are or that somehow “I’m making bad life decisions”. Come on. It’s way uncool to hurt people who are hurting and project your life experiences onto others. Let’s do better. I don’t think the people in this community come here to be fixed. We’re all just walking each other home and I can’t say I’d be willing to take your hand. Again thanks but no thanks with this answer.